SC stays PMLA trial against ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin

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CategoryPolity

Last Updated12/04/2024

The Supreme Court stayed the trial, in a special court in Kerala, in a money laundering case prosecuted by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) against ‘lottery king’ whose company was a major donor to political parties through the now-defunct electoral bonds scheme.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a multi-disciplinary organization mandated with investigation of offences of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws.
It functions under the Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance.
The origin of this Directorate goes back to 1st May, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’ was formed in the Department of Economic Affairs for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), 1947.
It was headquartered in Delhi, headed by a Legal Service Officer as the Director of Enforcement.
It had two branches - at Bombay and Calcutta.

Electoral bonds are money instruments like promissory notes, which can be bought by companies and individuals in India from the State Bank of India (SBI) and donated to a political party, which can then encash these bonds.
The bonds are only redeemable in the designated account of a registered political party.
A person being an individual can buy bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.

By protecting the confidentiality of donors, the apprehension of political retribution would also be greatly reduced.
the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) can only be restricted on the grounds listed in Article 19(2), which does not include the purpose of curbing black money.

Before it was amended by the Finance Act, 2017, required all political parties to declare any contributions higher than Rs. 20,000.
The amendment to the section, which exempted political parties from making declarations for donations received through electoral bonds, was struck down by the court.